Contemopary Copperheads

For Lex by AF Bro:

In April of 1861 boxes from the south arrived in the north. They turned out to be the prequel to Ted “Unabomber” Kazinski’s mail campaign. The boxes contained venomous, copperhead snakes. New York City newspapers sensationalized the stories of these “letter-bombs” and used them to define the depravity of the southern people, snakes in the grass one and all.

At that time, democrats in congress were split between “war” democrats and “peace” democrats. The peace dems were later dubbed “copperheads” in reference to their depraved southern sympathies. Many copperheads wore copper pennies around their necks as badges of honor to define their anti-war, pro-south, pro-slavery leanings. The copperheads were vehemently anti-war and anti-Lincoln, and they were politically persuasive. They spewed their venom throughout the north, inciting desertions from the army, riots, murders of draft officers and wide-spread sedition. In 1864, dem presidential candidate General George “I’d rather prepare for battle than engage in battle” McClellan got 47.4% of the votes in the north, the only votes that counted at that time. The copperheads controlled dem party policies, the dems in congress and, presumably, McClellan himself. They gave Lincoln migraines on a regular basis and undermined the war effort by weakening popular support for the high ideals of our reasons for going to war, i.e. abolishing slavery and preserving the Union. They also pandered to and were in fact influenced by an age-old human weakness, the weakness of taking the easy way out of a difficult situation regardless of the long-term consequences. Politics being the mother of cynicism, it’s not a stretch see that opportunistic “public servants” would adopt policies that are bad for the country in order to increase their own political power. Also, arguments against spending blood and treasure are always more persuasive to the “peace at any price” crowd than the logic of the stout-hearted who see a threat and are prepared to deal with it regardless of the difficulties involved.

So what do copperheads have to do with us, almost 150 years later? Well, the essence of Copperheadism crosses the space-time continuum. It was here before the Civil War, it was here after the Civil War, and, I am convinced, it will be here during the Star Wars of the future. Here is what one well-known pol had to say about copperheads:
”Never in our lifetime has such a concerted campaign of defeatism been thrown at the heads of the President and the Senators and Congressmen as in the case of this XXth Congress. Never before have we had so many Copperheads among us -- and you will remember that it was the Copperheads who, in the days of the Civil War, the War between the States, tried their best to make President Lincoln and his Congress give up the fight in the middle of the fight, to let the Nation remain split in two and return to peace -- yes, peace at any price.”

So who was that sage and when did he speak? Was it Joe McCarthy? Barry Goldwater? Dick Nixon? The answer is: None of the above. It was FDR in one of his famous “fireside chats” in 1938, and the “XXth” Congress was the 75th Congress.

Copperheadism is taking the easy way out of a difficult situation regardless of future consequences, it’s political opportunism, it’s selling out the country, it is “peace in our time” (and destruction later), and it is alive and well today in the party that first precipitated this pejorative. Am I cynical, or is it just coincidental that both Congressmen Dennis Kusinich (D-OH) and Jack Murtha (D-PA) are preaching “cut-and-run” to gain political power. Kusinich had hoped to parlay his copperhead status into a seat in the Oval Office. Murtha’s cut-and-run diatribes are less grasping; he only wants to be Speaker of the House when, in his copperhead-induced state of euphoria, dems retake control after the midterm elections. House Minority Leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), is trying to out-copperhead Murtha in her quest for the same political prize. Then there is Senator John Kerry. He must be a copperhead made of modern copper pennies, i.e. fabricated from an alloy rather than pure copper. Thus he voted for the war right before he voted against the war. Dr. Howard Dean (DNC Chairman) personifies the extreme copperhead hammer that bangs away noisily while Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) represents the copperhead anvil that just sits there, an obstinate obfuscator of any policies that would bring about a Bush victory, either on the battlefields or in political offices. As in days of old, there is no room in today’s democratic copperhead klatch for reasonable debate by guys like Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT). Even Hillary (D-NY) is being shunned for not being shrill enough in her critique of the war.

It is interesting to note that, as a result of their seditious political opportunism, the copperheads of old did not win a presidential election until 1884. If you start with McClellan in the 1864 election, that is 20 years of banishment to a political desert. Perhaps the contemporary copperheads should pay more attention to history and less to a flawed stratagem for regaining political power by taking the easy way out. Cutting-and-running is not an option in this current world war. We can cut, and we can run, but we cannot hide from the Islamo-Fascist-Terrorists. If we take the easy, cowardly way out, they will seek us out and kill us en mass. That is their goal, and that is our fate, if we succumb to the copperheads. To compound future matters, we have apocalyptic mad-man Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran promising to 1) “wipe Israel off the map,” 2) end the “great Satan’s” (America’s) dominance and 3) use nuclear technology ONLY for peaceful purposes. Copperheads will take the easy way out and believe #3 but discount the first two promises. As my high school coach used to say, “It takes more backbone than wishbone,” and we and our allies will need plenty of backbone to prevent this Apocalypse in the making.

We have a significant choice in the upcoming midterm elections. We can continue to pay a high, but affordable, price to stop the IFTs now, or we can cut, run and later suffer devastation that will make 9/11 look like a picnic. You get to choose in November. Vote smart.